The present disclosure relates to an inkjet recording apparatus which performs recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium such as sheets of paper.
Recording apparatuses such as facsimile machines, copiers, and printers are designed to record images on recording media such as paper and OHP sheets, and can be classified, according to the recording method they adopt, into an inkjet type, a wire-dot type, a thermal type, and other types. Inkjet recording methods can be classified into a serial type, in which recording is performed while a recording head scans across a recording medium, and a line-head type, in which recording is performed by a recording head, for example, fixed to the body of the recording apparatus.
For example, an inkjet recording apparatus of the line-head type is provided with, for each color it uses, an inkjet head (recording head) of the line-head type in which inkjet nozzles are arranged at predetermined intervals over the entire width of the printing region perpendicular to the transport direction of the recording medium. By ejecting ink from the inkjet nozzles corresponding to the printing position in a fashion coordinated with the transport of the recording medium, printing can be performed over the entire recording medium.
In such inkjet recording apparatuses, in cases where rollers and wheels are used as a means for transporting a recording medium immediately after printing by a recording head, wet ink may deposit on rollers and wheels, and the deposited ink may be transferred back to the recording medium, causing offsetting.
One conceivable way to overcome the inconvenience mentioned above is to transport an inkjet-printed recording medium by use of a transport belt that holds the recording medium on the belt surface by attraction. Here, extending the transport belt in the printing region opposite the recording head toward the downstream side of the printing region results in an increased circumferential length of the transport belt and hence to a larger size of the belt transport portion, leading to increased cost. Moreover, the belt retraction region for the handling of a recording medium jammed in the printing region is then accordingly large, and this hampers making inkjet recording apparatuses compact and space-saving.
As a solution, for example, inkjet recording apparatuses are known in which a transport passage for a recording medium is built with a belt transport section that is divided into a first belt transport section arranged opposite a recording section and a second belt transport section arranged on the downstream side of the recording section.